Terrestrial 3D laser scanning - Data acquisition and object modelling for industrial as-built documentation and architectural applications

In this paper the investigations of two projects using the terrestrial 3D laser scanning system "CYRAX 2500®" from Leica Geosystems are presented. The CYRAX 2500 is tested in 3D data acquisition and object modelling for industrial as-built documentation and for an architectural application. The major aspects of these investigations were the accuracy of point determination and object modelling, the degree of automation in data acquisition and object modelling, and consequently the overall efficiency of the laser scanning system and its related software tools. With the scanner the two objects were recorded three-dimensionally as point clouds. The registration and modelling of the industrial facilities (pipelines of the company Boie in Lübeck, Germany) could be performed nearly automatically with the software Cyclone (version 4.0.2), which belongs to the scanning system. The modelling of the architectural object (Holstentor in Lübeck) had to be carried out mostly manually in combination with the CAD program AutoCAD. The two projects demonstrated that the Cyrax laser scanning system is especial suitable for detailed 3D recording and modelling of industrial facilities. Due to its measuring precision and its high point density, the Cyrax 2500 represents a good alternative and supplement to classic construction surveying and to photogrammetric data acquisition. The two projects described were performed in cooperation between the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Department of Geomatics, and the engineering office GDV Ingenieurgesellschaft Holst mbH, Bad Schwartau, Germany.